Blue Öyster Cult - Tyranny and Mutation mp3 album

With their second offering BÖC really show us what they can do. The production is much better, the vocals are more confident, and the band is much more ambitious in both arrangements and songwriting. Allen Lanier's keyboards and Joe Bouchard's bass in particular benefit from this directional shift, coming across much more prominently than in the debut album. The lyrical content as well begins to take more of the shape that would define the Cult's future work: dark, cryptic, and somewhere between campy and deathly serious. The album is divided into to halves: The Black (a collection of guitar heavy and break neck speed rock tracks) and The Red (more expeirmental and strangely sexual themed tracks). There is a world of difference. The Red beings with a hardhitting and far superior reworking of I'm On The lamb from the debut retitled The Red And The Black. Some strange tape noise and we segue into O.D.'d on Life Itself a darkly delightful if rudimentary composition driven by Bloom's sinister vocals and Dharma's red hot leads. Two more breakneck rockers (the strangely surf rockin' Hot Rails To Hell and epic jam 7 Screamin' Diz Busters) close out side A. The first half is more immediate and instantaneously satisfying but the second half is where the band's creativity truly shines. Baby Ice Dog might be the most underrated track in the BÖC songbook and Quicklime Girl is a slab of some sinister satanic gardening that'll keep you grooveing all night long. Throw in a groovey Teen Archer and a seriously weird Wings Wetted Down and you know this is a record that doesn't miss a beat. A huge improvement and step forward.